Luthien Reaches

Carving a path through the wilds

The Light on the Hill

And the heroes braved the flames before them...

Unfinished Business: Tryn stole the engraved gems and ran away (party intends to hunt her down… eventually).
The PCs gave the greataxe as a gift to Commander Alexander. He now owes them a favor.

The PCs returned to Fort Remote for a few days. Morwenna had her new armor resized, while Sonja inquired about the history of the local dwarves from the Wizard Kremlin (the Fort’s resident wizard and Lorekeeper). The dwarves seem to have disappeared about 100 years ago, and no one quite knows why. Kremlin does give Sonja a map of the area, and points out a few notably large dwarven ruins. The ruins should be added to the map

The PCs soon headed out to investigate the mysterious light on the hill that Alexander had told them about. As they approached, Brent looked through a spyglass he borrowed from the Commander: he could see that it looked like there was a fire on the hill, but no smoke.

That night, Greggg was taking watch and noticed a wolf stalking the PCs. The group was soon attacked by a small pack of wolves, but the PCs handily defeated them. (As one leapt at Sonja, she shoved a dagger into its side and body slammed it into the fire). The wolves seemed to be of the same species as those kept by the Orcs, but were wild. The PCs also skinned a few of the wolfs and gathered some bloody wolf pelts.

The next day the PCs reached the hill, following a winding path the the top (the light was still visible even during the day). There were tracks going up the path, including a set that were singed around the edges.

At the top of the hill was a caldera containing a grove of trees that appeared to be on fire, but was not being consumed. Heat radiated from the flames. The PCs circled the edge of the caldera, and found the incinerated corpses of Fort Remote soldiers (they appeared to have been fireballed), plus the tracks of something large with claws.

Greggg invoked the power of Bahamut and granted the PCs the ability to endure the flames, and they headed down to explore the grove. They found a cave in the middle of the trees leading down into the hill.

Moving through the tunnel of the cave, the PCs were attacked by a swarm of fire bats. The bats were agile and hard to hit, and managed to swing past and burn the heroes. As the PCs were fighting, small fire men grew out of the cracks in the ground, which exploded when struck with weapons. Nevertheless, the PCs managed to defeat their enemies.

Following the tunnel, the PCs reached a large room containing two pits of lava. At the edge of the pits were two humanoid figures encased in heavy armor and wielding spears. Behind them was a man in red robes with dark vinyl obsidian-like skin, and facial features made of fire (a magma man). And flying around the room was a young red dragon who taunted the PCs in a squeaky voice.

The PCs moved in to engage—Sonja skirted the edge of the room (leaping over the lava pits), while the magma man launched beams of fire. As Morwenna charged in to attack, the dragon moved to engage her, knocking her cold (ha!) with its claws. Greggg quickly revived the guard, who grounded the dragon. The fight continues, with Sonja skirmishing and eventually dropping the Magma man, while Greggg and Brent took down the armored warriors with their ranged attacks and Morwenna fought with the dragon. As the dragon (bloodied and beaten) moved to flee, Greggg blasted it with the holy energy of the Platinum Dragon, destroying it.

Unfinished items
Any loot from the fight (should we bring the dragon back to town for parts)? What happens to the flaming forest (can we sanctify the grove or anything)? What does Alexander say when we inform him about the fate of his guards (do we get rewarded for that too)?